USA hold off Croatia to complete historic U19 title defence

HERAKLION (2015 FIBA U19 World Championship) - The United States became the first country since 1983 to successfully defends its title, holding off Croatia 79-71 after overtime in Sunday’s Final in capturing the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship.

The USA claimed their sixth U19 title as four players scored in double figures paced by Jalen Brunson's 14 points. Croatia got their first podium finish in taking second place. Click here for the full game report.

Turkey also ended up in the top three at the FIBA U19 World Championship for the first time ever by beating hosts Greece 80-71 in the Third-Place Game. Click here for the full game report.

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Brunson received the MVP award, presented by Tissot. He headlined the All-Star Five with team-mate Harry Giles, Croatia's Marko Arapovic, Turkey’s Furkan Korkmaz and Greece's Tyler Dorsey.

In the Classification Games, Canada cruised past Italy 77-44 for fifth place, Australia beat Spain 103-72 to finish seventh, while Serbia came in ninth after edging out Argentina 77-76, Egypt beat Korea 101-88 for 11th place, Dominican Republic grabbed 13th place thanks to a 71-50 rout of Korea and China got the better of Tunisia 80-68 in the game for 15th place.

Final standings of the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship:

1. USA

2. Croatia

3. Turkey

4. Greece

5. Canada

6. Italy

7. Australia

8. Spain

9. Serbia

10. Argentina

11. Egypt

12. Korea

13. Dominican Republic

14. Iran

15. China

16. Tunisia

By: Editor